


Overlooked

by naragirl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Hurt Lance (Voltron), M/M, Oblivious, Oblivious Team, Sadness, the one time they noticed, voltron legendary defenders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-08-09 10:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7799149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naragirl/pseuds/naragirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something is up with Keith and Lance, but the Voltron team doesn't seem to notice. It's understandable in such a big castle, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Screaming matches are not uncommon in the Castle of the Lions. When you put seven people with varying degrees of emotional baggage together in an enclosed space millions of miles from home, it’s bound to happen every once in a while. So when Hunk walks in on the screaming match at the breakfast table, he stumbles over to the food goo machine and ignores the two hotheads screeching at each other. It’s an everyday occurrence, and the whole team has their own ways of dealing with it. Hunk? He ignores it and eats his breakfast. Which is why, when the tears start falling and Lance storms off, he doesn’t notice.

 

Being cooped up in the Castle of Lions between missions can become very boring, very fast. Of course, one could train, or explore the castle, but those things are only entertaining for so long. The paladins try to find ways to keep themselves busy. For Lance and Keith, that way is to spend time getting to know each other. Once Keith learned that Lance is bilingual, that evolves into Spanish lessons. Like everything else he tries, Keith picks up the language quickly. The two start to fall into the language when situations become tense, to the confusion of their teammates. Nobody ever asks, even when they start yelling at each other during missions. None of the other paladins speak Spanish. If they did, they might understand how scared the blue and red paladins are for each other, and why they have good reason to be.

 

After a successful mission, the Voltron team likes to relax. Coran brings out the Altean version of alcohol (which Pidge is not allowed to drink) and the party begins. It doesn’t take long before the castle is full of laughter and drunken ramblings, which get louder as the night goes on. Eventually, Pidge always wanders off to mess with their computer, and Hunk falls asleep on the couch. Coran takes him back to his room, then goes to back to his own quarters. Allura and Shiro wander off to stargaze and have meaningful talks they won’t remember in the morning. Nobody on the team pays any attention to Lance and Keith, and the hands that stay intertwined between them. If they did, they might also notice that neither of them drank, and that neither leaves the other’s side the night after a battle.  

 

When sharing living space with 6 other people, one occasionally needs time to be alone. Pidge will disappear for days into various sections of the castle, trying to find more Altean technology to study. Hunk will spend his time in the kitchens, struggling to make something tasty out of the food goo. Everyone has their own nook they will go to when they need to be alone, and no one questions it. That’s why, when Lance disappears, no one wonders why. If they did, they might notice how Keith gets even quieter than normal, and how he disappears the next day. They might have noticed that, when they both come back, they are always quiet, pale, and absolutely inseparable.

 

When the rest of team Voltron finally realizes something is wrong with their friends, it is completely an accident. They are in the hanger of the castle, doing a routine check as part of a mechanics training endeavor (Coran’s idea, of course) when a ship docks in one of the lesser used docking bays. They go to investigate, and find a bloodied and semi-conscious Lance and a resigned Keith stumbling out of the doors. The two try to sneak away, failing to notice their team watching them. Allura, the first to snap out of shock, runs to the boys and demands an explanation. Lance takes this opportunity to fall fully into unconsciousness, leaving a cornered Keith to finally break. He tells the team about the months of beatings and worse that Lance endured. He tells them what he had to watch, and how he had patched up Lance after every incident, and about the arguments they had over it. He tells them about the blackmail material, about finding Pidge’s family and being able to do nothing to protect them except to sneak off and take their punishments for them. He tells them of Lance’s sacrifice for his Voltron family, even the ones he hasn’t met yet. He tells them what they failed to notice, and they listen. They listen and they plan and they wait.


	2. What happened to Blue?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is some much needed background to the first chapter. Sorry it took so long guys! I beg forgiveness and attempt to apologize with a new chapter!

It all started shortly after the wormhole incident. Four of the paladins managed to meet up within a week or two, but Lance was missing for two months. When he finally made it back to the castle, he was banged up and exhausted. He managed to play it off as having crash landed far from the others, and for the most part everyone believed him. Everyone except Keith.  
Keith, being the impulsive person he was, called Lance out on it immediately. Lance, being the horribly injured person he was, promptly passed out. He was rushed to the pods and Keith forgot his suspicions.  
Three days later, a disoriented teenager stumbled from the pods into the welcoming arms of his team. They dragged him to the kitchen, where he was loved and coddled. He was warm and full for the first time in weeks. The paladin group was finally back together again, and all was well for a brief instant.  
That moment shattered the second Lance made it back to his room. He had lied to his team. Lance didn’t crash after the wormhole incident. Instead, he was picked up by the Galra. He was taken by someone the team hadn’t met yet but that didn’t mean he was any less fearsome. Lance was picked up by Lotor.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWO MONTHS AGO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The blue paladin spent the following two weeks alone. Lotor had decided that the best way to torment such an open person was to make sure he had no contact with anyone. After such a long time alone, he had almost welcomed the soldiers who drug him before the Lotor and forced him to kneel. Almost.  
It turned out that the Lotor had some captives that he thought Lance might be interested in. Those captives? A skinny and bruised Sam and Matt Holt. Lance recognized them from his mind meld with Pidge.  
“I found some humans scurrying around in my web, and I thought to myself. Who do I know that would be interested in these useless creatures? Naturally, you were the first to come to mind. What is that human phrase? ‘Birds of a feather’ and all that?” Lance knew Lotor was baiting him, but he couldn’t help but flinch at the state of the two.  
“What do you want with them?” Lance tried to play it cool, but a bit of his worry had seeped into his voice.  
“It’s not what I want with them, young paladin, but what I want with you.” Turning his head, he addressed his soldier. “Put them in holding cell three. Let them get to know each other.” With a smirk, Lotor exited the room.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWO HOURS LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Lance sat on the bench in his new cell, staring at the Holts. They had told him about their captivity, but Lance had been unable to tell them anything about Voltron, for fear of the cell being bugged. He tried to stay emotionally distanced from the little family, because what he had learned about them was horrifying. He had no idea how to help these people. He was still pondering when the guards came back for him.  
The Galra soldiers hauled him to a dark room with a metal table and some scary looking instruments, where he was interrogated with extreme prejudice. He gave no information, only screams and sass. A black eye, broken arm, and an hour later, his questioners were replaced with druids, who had a few experiments to try on him. When they all failed, he returned to his cell. The Holts immediately started fussing over him.  
Getting patched up gave Lance time to rethink his approach to Pidge’s family. They had been captured for so long, but were still so caring! Lance knew from what they had told him that they had worked as slaves for a long time. After that, they were shifted around with less than gentle guards until Lotor pulled them to stay with Lance. Mr. Holt was weaker than Matt, because of his age. Even so, he still smiled and talked animatedly, despite his traumatic experiences.  
Matt, on the other hand, was a ball of energy. He joked and flirted on a scale that could rival Lance, and obviously cared for his cellmate, despite having just met him. Matt had amazingly high spirits, even after what he had been through.  
Lance was left to get to know his cellmates in between torture and experiment sessions. Sometimes Lotor would participate, but most often he was left to (unfortunately) very skilled interrogators and less skilled druids. Every time without fail, the Holts would do their best to patch him up with their meager supplies snatched from guards. He started to learn their likes and dislikes, and was always growing closer to them, day in and day out. He knew he had to do something to help them.  
After two weeks of torture, Lance noticed something start to change. Lotor showed up less and less often, and was noticeably frazzled when he did. It culminated in a meeting a at the end of the second week. Lance had not slept in two days, and had many broken bones. He was reaching his breaking point. Lotor appeared about ready to join him.  
“I have a bit of a conundrum here, blue paladin. You see, without you, your team has become much more brutal in fights. They attack stronger, taking larger risks than ever before. In essence, they have become a larger threat to me without you there to stabilize them. I am sure they take damage as well, but my troops should not have to deal with these suicidal paladins. Things are always better when your enemies are… mentally stable. Because of this, I have made a decision.” Lotor looked weakened after his speech. “I have decided… to send you back.”  
“WHAT? I can go back?” screeched Lance.  
“Oh, my paladin, did you think it would be without a price? I am not such an ungracious host as to just kick you out the door, now am I?’ sneered Lotor. “You will come back once every three days, no matter what the circumstance, to complete your… treatment.”  
“And why will I be doing that?”  
“I do believe I have some persuasion left in your cell. If you do not come back, they will receive your torture threefold. If you skip more than one in a row, they will be executed. Attempt a rescue mission? I promise all attack will be met with their death. Do not cross me, for I do not bluff. It might be best to keep our meetings a secret. Don’t want any half-cocked idiot to start something for your little friends, do we?”  
Lance was stunned into silence. He had known the Galra could be cruel, but he was taking this to a whole new level. How could Lance keep the whereabouts of Pidge’s family from her? But for their own sake, he must. Lance was carried down a hallway (the ability to walk having left him weeks ago) and shoved into a healing pod. He was pulled out much too early, as soon as he was flight ready, and pushed into the blue lion. With no energy left, and still aching from his wounds, Lance decided it would be best to go home and regroup.


End file.
